Military Resistance 10D8 KIA

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4.24.12

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Military Resistance 10D8

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

4 U.S. Soldiers Feared Dead in Afghan Helicopter Crash:
“Possible That Enemy Action Was Factor”
April 19, 2012 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS A U.S. Army helicopter crashed on a nighttime mission in southwestern Afghanistan on Thursday, and initial reports from the scene indicated that as many as four soldiers may have been killed, a U.S. defense official said. In a brief official announcement, the American military command in Kabul said there were "no confirmed reports" of casualties "at this time." The announcement did not specify the nationality of the helicopter crew and said the cause of the crash was unknown.

Two U.S. defense officials said four U.S. troops were aboard the helicopter, identified as an Army Black Hawk, and one official said initial word from the scene was that officials "don’t expect" that any of the four survived. Unspecified weather difficulties may have played a role in the crash, the two officials said, but it also was possible that enemy action was factor.

Soldier’s Body To Arrive Home Today

The casket containing the remains of Army Spc. Antonio C. Burnside, of Great Falls, at Dover Air Force Base, Del., 4.23.12. AP PHOTO/JOSE LUIS MAGANA Apr. 9, 2012 Written by KRISTEN CATES, Great Falls Tribune In addition to close family and friends, the Blackfeet Nation is mourning the loss of one of its "warriors" in the wake of U.S. Army Spc. Antonio C. Burnside’s death in Afghanistan on Friday. Burnside (Many Hides, his Blackfeet family name), was killed when insurgents attacked his unit with small-arms fire in the Ghanzi province of Afghanistan on Friday. The 31-year-old, originally from Great Falls, leaves behind his wife, four children, parents and siblings, as well as a grieving Blackfeet Nation. Tribal officials report that Burnside’s parents are on their way to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to retrieve his body and bring him home to the Blackfeet Reservation for services and burial. "All Blackfeet hearts are broken today as we learn we must bury one of our warriors whose life was tragically cut short on the far side of the world," said Blackfeet Chairman T. J. Show. "We are reminded how inadequate our words are when a warrior has made

the ultimate sacrifice. Tony represents the best among us and our thoughts and prayers are with the family as they struggle to deal with the shock of this terrible loss." Tribe officials report that from an early age Burnside was active in Blackfeet tribal life, was a traditional dancer and grass dancer, and participated in Blackfeet traditional ceremonies. He sang with the Gray Horse Singers and studied Cree in school. Burnside is the second Blackfeet warrior killed in the current conflict. According to the tribe, Master Sgt. (Ret) William F. "Chief" Carlson was killed in the Konar province, Afghanistan, in 2003, shortly after leaving his Fort Bragg unit to work for the CIA. "For 10,000 years, the Blackfeet have reserved our highest honors for warriors killed defending our homeland," said Henry Butterfly, Tribal Councilman and Navy veteran. "As Spc. Burnside makes his final journey home, we await his arrival and reflect on the great pride he has brought the Blackfeet Nation. He served with pride, dignity, and integrity and we thank him for his service." Keith Heavy Runner, Blackfeet Veterans Affairs Officer, said the tribe is assisting in every way possible and once plans for services and burial are made, information will be posted on the website www.blackfeetnation.com. Burnside (Many Hides) is survived by his father Bob Burnside, mother Annie Burnside (Many Hides), spouse Christine Burnside, daughters Ariana, Hartlynn, Angel and son Tony Jr., sister Ramona and brother Milo, and grandparents David Chippewa Jr. and Marilyn Many Hides. He was assigned to the 1st Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, based in Fort Bragg, NC.

Some Details About Licking Soldier’s Death Released

Tyler Smith

Apr 10, 2012 By Lynn Brennan, The Rolla Daily News Licking, Mo. — The Department of Defense Monday confirmed the death of Army Staff Sgt. Tyler Smith. More information involving the circumstances of Smith’s death was also released. Smith, a Licking native, was killed April 3 in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province from wounds sustained when he was attacked with an improvised explosive device. According to the Department of Defense, Smith was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division out of Fort Bragg, N.C. Smith was a 2006 graduate of Licking High School and was serving his second tour of duty in Afghanistan. He leaves behind his wife, Lara and children, 5-year-old Wyatt and 2-year-old Carson who live at Fort Bragg, N.C. His parents are Dan and Jeannie Smith of Licking. According to the Fayetteville Observer in Fayetteville, N.C., Smith’s awards and decorations include the Purple Heart, Bronze Star Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal with one oak leaf cluster, National Defense Service Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal with one campaign star, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, NATO Medal, Global War on Terror Service Medal, Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon with numeral 2, Combat Infantryman’s Badge, Expert Infantryman’s Badge and Parachutist Badge. Jerry Dodson, senior pastor of the Licking Pentecostal Holiness Church where Smith was a member described Smith as a very nice, strong young man who was dedicated to his family and the lord. Dodson said Smith talked about joining the military all through high school an enlisted shortly after graduation. Shock rippled through the small town of under 1,500 people after the news of Smith’s death spread. “I worked at the school for 10 years and pretty much watched him grow up all through elementary school,” said Debbie Dakin. “He was just a very nice young man, he never caused his family any grief.” “They are a very nice family,” she said. “My heart just breaks for them. What can you say under the circumstances?” said Dakin.

Harbor City Man Dies In Afghanistan

Corporal Roberto Cazarez of Harbor City, a U.S. Marine killed in Afghanastan. 04/13/2012 By Rob Kuznia Staff Writer; Daily Breeze.com He could run a mile in under six minutes. He loved baseball. He was a jokester who enjoyed engaging in frivolous debate with his fellow Marines. By all accounts, Roberto Cazarez, a 2006 graduate of Narbonne High in Harbor City, was an energetic young man with a cheerful demeanor. On March 30, Cpl. Cazarez, the driver of a light armored vehicle, was killed during a combat operation in Afghanistan. He was 24. Born in Angostura, Mexico, Cazarez enlisted in the Marines to serve the United States even though he was not yet a citizen, according to DVIDS, a public affairs website for the U.S. military. As a high school student, he was an enthusiastic member of Narbonne’s baseball team. Although Cazarez wasn’t a starter, he so appreciated being a part of the team that he later wrote his coach a thank-you letter. "He was an extremely sociable player and a really good teammate," said the coach, Bill Dillon. "He was really hard-working, trustworthy, always punctual - all the things you want in a father and a son." Though not a star player, the 5-foot-6 Cazarez was swift on his feet. "He was a sub-sixminute-mile runner," Dillon remembers. But he said Cazarez wasn’t interested in track: "He was a baseball player."

In the Marines, a similar zest drew him toward the most dangerous missions. He first enlisted in the Marine Corps in July of 2006 - just weeks after high school graduation. For a time he served as a small-arms repair technician. But Cazarez eventually made a conscious decision to insert himself in the line of fire. He re-enlisted into the infantry field, training to serve as a light armored vehicle crewman, according to DVIDS. He became the driver of his commander’s fast-moving light armored vehicle in the 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division. It was dangerous work. The crew often left the military outpost for more than a week at a time, zipping through rugged terrain filled with hidden enemy combatants on roads that were dotted with explosives. But merely driving into the danger zone wasn’t enough for Cazarez, according to DVIDS. He often volunteered to embark on the foot patrols that are normally the province of trained scouts who ride on the back of the vehicle and hop off to perform military strikes. In this capacity, Cazarez was in charge of lugging a heavy piece of machinery called a Thor, a 25-pound device that detects improvised explosives. Cazarez died during a combat operation in the Helmand province, a particularly treacherous region of the country, where nearly half of the world’s opium is illicitly produced, according to a United Nations report. The military released no details on the circumstances. But Sterling Bullock, a sergeant in the same unit who graduated from Carson High School in 1995, said he heard that a roadside bomb had taken out the vehicle Cazarez was driving. "It’s cowardly," he told the Daily Breeze, speaking of the enemy’s use of improvised explosive devices. "They don’t want to fight - that’s the way they operate." At an April 8 ceremony, Cazarez’s platoonmates fondly recalled some of his quirks, such as his jokey nature and penchant for debate. A couple days before his death, during a game of kickball with his compatriots at the patrol base, Cazarez playfully challenged his opponents on the finer points of the game. "He was arguing with our platoon sergeant about the score, about the rules of the game and about anything you could think of," fellow platoon member Cpl. John W. Nelson II told DVIDS. "He would always argue a good point." Cazarez trained at Camp Pendleton in San Diego County. There, he met Bullock. It was a small-world moment: The two were pleasantly surprised to meet somebody else from the South Bay. "We would chit-chat about the area," Bullock said. Bullock, 35, had been a star baseball player who went to Kansas State University on an athletic scholarship. Cazarez looked up to him.

"He was a good kid," Bullock said. "Upbeat, always motivated, always wanting to get better. ... He was always asking for advice on how to get better. What he needed to do to further himself." Bullock, who was honorably discharged this week after serving 11 years, added: "He always had a smile on his face every time I talked to him." Cazarez is survived by his wife, Sonia. "She was his world," Sgt. Gregory Hartman, a vehicle commander with Delta Company, told DVIDS. He also has family in Harbor City, but they declined to be interviewed. Cazarez’s decorations include the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal, and the Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation. This was his first deployment to Afghanistan. Cazarez isn’t the first former Narbonne High student to die in recent wars. In September of 2004, Spc. Edgar P. Daclan Jr. perished in a roadside explosion as he patrolled the Iraqi city of Balad. He was 24. Later that same year, 21-year-old Sergio Diaz Varela Jr. of Lomita died of shrapnel wounds when a bomb exploded in his vicinity while he was on patrol in Iraq.

Friends, Family Remember Fallen Lake Elsinore Marine
April 13, 2012 Lake Elsinore-Wildomar Patch.com Once a Marine, always a Marine," a well-known slogan used by the Marine Corps couldn’t have been used any more appropriately here. In order to pay their final respects, give condolences and to honor a fallen brother-inarms, Marines with 1st Marine Logistics Group joined the hero’s friends and family at a memorial service April 10 in Orange County, Calif., for Cpl. Michael J. Palacio. Palacio, 23, from Lake Elsinore, Calif., died while participating in combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan, March 29, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Palacio was loved by many, and now he is an American hero who has made the ultimate sacrifice for his country. His friends and relatives expressed their feelings at Legacy.com as they signed the guest book after the memorial service and funeral.

Julia Rodriguez, from Buena Park, Calif., wrote, “I remember from the moment I met you, you instantly brought a smile to my face, as you did to everyone that crossed paths with you. You’re my hero and I thank you so much for everything that you’ve done. I love you and miss you dearly. Rest in Paradise, Mikey P.” LJ Smith, from Statenville, Ga., wrote, “Brother, you will be in my mind, and your name will be on my arm for the rest of my life. I miss you dearly. Semper Fi brother.” --Cpl. Khoa Pelczar

Wisdom, Leadership , Toughness, Loyalty Among Qualities Attributed To Ithaca Marine Christopher Bordoni
Apr. 11, 2012 Written by Rachel Stern, Star Gazette What sticks out in Bill Korherr’s mind is that his son-in-law was wise beyond his years. "He knew what he wanted to do, and when he set his mind to anything with conviction, I was always impressed with the outcome," Korherr said. "He always took care of my little girl." Korherr is Cpl. Christopher D. Bordoni’s father-in-law. His daughter, Jessica, married Cpl. Bordoni in March 2011. The couple developed such a strong bond at a young age and overcame the obstacle of being far away from one another, Korherr said. Cpl. Bordoni was doing the job he wanted to do and he had a tremendous amount of courage and faith, Korherr said. "He loved his comrades and his unit," he said. "He seemed to always want to join the Marines. That was what I was told early on." Cpl. Bordoni, 21, was critically injured in January in Afghanistan and died April 3 at the San Antonio Military Medical Center, where he had been receiving treatment. Cpl. Bordoni grew up in the Ithaca area and graduated from Ithaca High School in 2008. His mother, Carol Bordoni Sprague, lives in the Village of Lansing, and his father, Tim Bordoni, lives in the Town of Ithaca. Cpl. Bordoni was serving with Bravo Company in the 1st Battalion, 6th Marines. He served two tours in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012. He was deployed for a second time in April 2011 and was expected to return home in the beginning of February 2012. While in the Marines, Cpl. Bordoni received the Purple Heart, Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, Combat Action Ribbon, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal, and NATO Medal-ISAF Afghanistan.

Tom Schwartz remembers landing at Camp Dwyer, a transition base, in Afghanistan in 2010. Schwartz was serving with the 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines. A 2006 graduate of Ithaca High School, he arrived at the camp and saw a familiar face: Chris Bordoni’s. "It is not the kind of place you expect to see someone from Ithaca, New York," Schwarz said. "I ran into Chris and we started talking about Marine stuff mostly. He was a likeable guy and easy to talk to. He was always cool, calm and collected." At the time, Cpl. Bordoni was a lance corporal, and he told Schwartz that he was a team leader. This was Chris Bordoni’s first deployment. Generally a team leader is a Marine who has had a deployment under his belt, Schwartz said, or a rank of corporal. "It was pretty impressive that he was a team leader; that said something about him," Schwartz said. "Usually newer guys who haven’t been deployed, if they put them in a leadership role, that means they thought well of him and his performance." Schwartz, 24, said he remembered Cpl. Bordoni from Ithaca High School, but because he was a bit older than him he only knew him in passing. Schwartz, who is no longer in the Marines, and Cpl. Bordoni, were both based at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. As a high school junior, Cpl. Bordoni took great pride in his country and talked about going into the service, Ithaca High School Principal Jarett Powers said. During the 200607 school year, Powers was Cpl. Bordoni’s U.S. History teacher. "He was a fantastic young man, and he was a good student," Powers said. "The high school community is deeply saddened by his passing, and our hearts and condolences go out to his family." Powers said he can remember Cpl. Bordoni’s interest in the service then, but he did not remember if it was the Marines specifically. His middle- and high-school soccer teammates remember Cpl. Bordoni as a hard worker who was extremely fast and tough. "If he got hurt or got knocked down, he would just get right up and keep playing," said Graham Nekut, who graduated from Ithaca High School in 2007. "He was intimidating, but also fun in practice." Nekut said Cpl. Bordoni also liked to play practical jokes. The other night when he was thinking about him, he said, he wondered if it was Chris Bordoni who turned his car sideways in his parking spot back in high school. "I am not sure if it was him, but he was always pulling some practical joke," Nekut said. Another high school classmate, Francis Lee, who also played soccer with Chris Bordoni since middle school, said he was extremely fast and consistent. But he was also goofy. Both Lee and Nekut played soccer with him at the middle- and high-school levels, and also for TC United Club. During Tuesday night’s motorcade that carried the Cpl. Bordoni’s body back to Ithaca, Joey Macali was one of about 30 people who stood on the Triphammer Road overpass

in Lansing. Macali, who graduated from Ithaca High School in 2010, said he ate lunch with Chris Bordoni every day in high school. "Chris always had a smile on his face; he was a great kid," said Macali, who added that Cpl. Bordoni would give the shirt off his back for anyone who needed it. "He’d do a flip for somebody if he could. He was a great person." That’s a description that does not surprise Korherr, his father-in-law. At one point, Cpl. Bordoni mentioned entering the field of law enforcement after the Marines, Korherr said. It was just an idea he kicked around, Korherr said, and was by no means a definite plan. It was just a potential direction Cpl. Bordoni mentioned he might think about taking once he left the military, he said. "He was always compassionate, he would reach out and help anyone in need," Korherr said. "He would help his buddies, his family, anyone. It wasn’t hard to figure between the Bordonis and the Spragues getting together they would come up with a fella like Chris."

Soldier From 33 Engineer Regiment (EOD) Dies Of Wounds Sustained In Afghanistan
18 Apr 2012 It is with great sadness that the Ministry of Defence must announce that a soldier from 33 Engineer Regiment (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) died today, 18 April 2012, at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, from wounds sustained in Afghanistan. The soldier was seriously wounded in the blast from an improvised explosive device in Nad ‘Ali on Wednesday 11 April 2012. He was flown back to the UK but died in hospital today as a result of his injuries.

POLITICIANS CAN’T BE COUNTED ON TO HALT THE BLOODSHED THE TROOPS HAVE THE POWER TO STOP THE WAR

IRAQ WAR REPORTS

“At Least 20 Car And Roadside Bombs Targeting Security Forces Rip Through Cities Across Iraq”

4.19.12: AFP: At least 20 car and roadside bombs targeting security forces rip through cities across Iraq, leaving at least 36 dead and dozens injured. 2012-04-19 By Salam Faraj, Middle East Online [Excerpts] Police, members of Sahwa militia forces and soldiers were killed in dozens of attacks, including 14 car bombings. A car bomb targeting Health Minister Majid Hamed Amin’s convoy in Haifa Street in the heart of the capital, wounded four of the minister’s guards. In Tarmiyah, also north of Baghdad, a bomber blew up a vehicle by an army base, killing one soldier and wounding six. A car bomb against the convoy of police Brigadier General Taha Salaheddin south of Kirkuk city killed two police. Another car bomb in the city centre killed two police and wounded three, a high-ranking police officer said on condition of anonymity. Six bombs against houses in the town of Malha, 40 kilometres (25 miles) northwest of Kirkuk, killed five people including an army major. In Baquba, the capital of Diyala province, a bomber blew himself up in home of police First Lieutenant Mohammed al-Tamimi, killing him and wounding four family members, an Iraqi army lieutenant colonel and Dr Ahmed Ibrahim of Baquba General Hospital said. A car bomb against a police checkpoint in the city centre killed two policemen.

Another policeman was killed by insurgents in the town of Al-Mansuriyah north of Baquba. In Samarra, in Salaheddin province, two car bombs exploded near checkpoints of Sahwa militiamen, killing three and wounding six, militia commander Majid Abdullah and a police lieutenant colonel said.

FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

“At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Oh had I the ability, and could reach the nation’s ear, I would, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. “For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. “We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.” “The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppose.” Frederick Douglass, 1852

A revolution is always distinguished by impoliteness, probably because the ruling classes did not take the trouble in good season to teach the people fine manners. -- Leon Trotsky, History Of The Russian Revolution

“Following George Bush’s Declaration Of The ‘War On Terror’, Gaddafi Made His Peace With France, Britain And The US”
“By The Time Of The First Stirrings Of Discontent Gaddafi And His Family Were Regular Visitors In Western Capitals, And His Regime Was At Peace With Imperialism”
“Privatisation And Neoliberal Reforms Were Rich Rewards For Regime Loyalists, Many Of Them Buying Up The Prime Real Estate Nationalised In The 1970s”
9 January 12 By Simon Assaf, International Socialist Journal Issue 133 [Excerpts] This article is not a definitive history of Libya, or of the uprising and civil war. What I hope to show is that Gaddafi’s regime rose out of a mass movement that developed during the post-colonial era. His coup put an end to this revolutionary wave, and despite the rhetoric, the state he built crushed any opposition to policies designed to create a new ruling class. During Libya’s confrontation with the West in the 1980s revolutionary socialists opposed imperialism’s designs on the country, but Gaddafi’s anti-imperialism was a block on the development of genuine movements in Palestine and Lebanon, and despite the rhetoric, he always sought to maintain oil deals with the West.

Similarly, his conversion to Pan-Africanism had a darker purpose, the conquest of northern Chad. Following George Bush’s declaration of the “war on terror”, Gaddafi made his peace with France, Britain and the US. By the time of the first stirrings of discontent Gaddafi and his family were regular visitors in Western capitals, and his regime was at peace with imperialism. *********************************************************** It was the outbreak of Islamist-inspired rebellion in the east of the country during the 1990s that would eventually open the door to full reconciliation with the West. The modern Islamist current emerged out of a group of Libyans who fought in Afghanistan during the 1980s. On their return they formed the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG). Despite its roots inside the Afghan insurgency, the LIFG eschewed the call for a “global jihad”, stating clearly that it saw its role as overthrowing the Gaddafi dictatorship. The Islamists staged spectacular attacks on the regime forces, nearly assassinating Gaddafi twice. This insurgency reached a peak in the mid-1990s with an attempted uprising in the east of the country, but the regime was able to arrest and kill several of its key leaders. Eventually the movement was driven out of its strongholds. Many of the militants fled to Sudan and others joined the resistance to the US occupation of Iraq. Some of the Islamists were eventually released as part of a rehabilitation deal brokered by Saif al-Islam Gaddafi and influential Muslim cleric Sheikh Ali Sallabi, now one of the leaders of the revolution and instrumental to galvanising Qatari support for the uprising. Following 9/11 the US classified LIFG as part of the Al Qaida network — a charge the organisation strenuously denied. The “war on terror” would provide Gaddafi with a chance to make his final peace with the West, sealed in the infamous 2004 “meeting in the desert” with Tony Blair. For Western powers, Gaddafi’s regime was one that was prepared to make a deal as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began to go wrong. The meeting in the desert was offered up as proof of the success of the invasion of Iraq. Gaddafi’s regime now cooperated in the war on terror. According to the Jamestown Foundation Terrorism Monitor: “Just weeks after the (9/11) attacks, a CIA team flew to London to meet face to face with the man believed to have planned the 1988 Lockerbie bombing — Musa Kusa, the head of Libyan intelligence.

Kusa provided the CIA (and also Britain’s MI6 foreign intelligence service) with the names of LIFG operatives and other Libyan Islamists who trained in Afghanistan, as well as dossiers on LIFG leaders living in the UK. In light of the central role of Libyan Afghans in al-Qaida, this was a major intelligence windfall for the Bush administration. The American government, for its part, officially designated LIFG as a terrorist organisation. The CIA and Britain’s MI6 kidnapped and handed over to the Libyan regime key members of the LIFG — among them the present rebel military commander of Tripoli, Abdel Hakim Belhaj. Benghazi and the eastern city of Derma remain the heartlands of Islamist movements and continue to raise deep concerns among Western intelligence agencies, especially after they looted the arms depots during the uprising. Following the end of UN sanctions in 2004, Gaddafi offered the promise of future reform under the patronage of his son, Saif al-Islam. Saif’s vision of gradual democratisation raised the prospect that as Libya opened up to the West, it could use some of the vast oil revenues to put real changes in place. The regime relaxed some of its repression, engaging many of its opponents in openended, but insubstantial, talks on change. Real power remained the preserve of a tight circle around Gaddafi. Privatisation and neoliberal reforms were rich rewards for regime loyalists, many of them buying up the prime real estate nationalised in the 1970s. Gaddafi described the programme of neoliberal reforms as “an extension of popular control”, to remain consistent with official Green Book ideology. The Financial Times noted, “The capricious leader’s dramatic turnround has arguably benefited him more than his new Western friends. Since his handover for trial of the two agents wanted for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing and his 2003 renunciation of weapons of mass destruction, US and European oil companies have been flocking to Tripoli for contracts. “Western financial institutions reeling from the global crisis also discovered in Libya’s newly founded sovereign wealth fund a rich and willing client”. Once the UN sanctions were lifted the major oil companies engaged in a frenzy of new oil contracts, refinery upgrades and exploration deals worth hundreds of billions of pounds. The arms companies were not far behind. In 2009 alone French, Italian, German and British firms supplied the regime with some £300 million in weapons, including jet fighters, ammunition, electronic equipment used to jam mobile phones and tear gas. According to the Campaign Against the Arms Trade, on 17 February 2011 (the official date of the start of the revolution), “the UK government had approved the export of goods including tear gas and crowd control ammunition and sniper rifles to Bahrain and

Libya, as well as a wide range of other military equipment to authoritarian regimes in the region”. The British government saw Libya as a “priority market” where “high-level political interventions” smoothed the path for UK weapons firms. This cooperation rested on the Libyan regime remaining the border policeman of Europe’s southern shores. The bilateral agreements with Italy ensured that sub-Saharan African migrants to Italy were promptly “returned to Libya”. These were made in the knowledge that in 2000 the regime unleashed a murderous pogrom on black African migrants. *********************************************************** There is now a struggle for the direction of the new Libya. After the fall of Gaddafi’s regime the Western-backed leaders of the NTC turned on their former allies, warning that the ranks of the rebels are full of Islamists “funded by Qatar”. These shrill warnings of imminent Islamist takeover, and the “Talibanisation” of Libya, skate over the contradictory nature of Islamist movements. The Islamists can express a rage at autocratic regimes, and the Western powers that prop them up, but they also seek to build stable capitalist economies. The Islamists want to contain and channel this revolution away from fundamental social changes and turn Libya into a state modelled on Turkey. The “terrorist” strategy of the LIFG in the 1990s was shaped by the nature of the regime it was confronting at the time. Once the popular uprising broke out the Islamists, especially in the east, threw themselves into the battle alongside people who did not share their ideology. For the NTC the new Libya will be like the old Libya, only with the removal of a small circle around Gaddafi, and the promise of elections at some point in the future. As the second uprising broke out in Tripoli, the NTC was at pains to ensure that the old regime functionaries would remain in their posts. In turn key Islamist leaders such as Sheikh Sallabi denounced NTC leaders for “stealing the revolution” after the Western-backed leaders attempted to carve out many rebel factions from posts in the new government, including representatives of the Amazigh. Clearly for many of the rebels the alliance with the West was one of convenience. The language of “secular against Islamist” has replaced that of “loyalist and rebel” as Western powers attempt to shape the make-up of the new government. Western intervention had two aims in the war. The first was to accelerate the fall of the regime and secure for itself a central role in North Africa.

The second was to rehabilitate the doctrine of humanitarian intervention following the disasters in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is clear that they have achieved both aims to a certain degree. Yet their foothold in Libya is far from secure. The revolution has unleashed forces, in the form of heavily armed civilians, which the NTC is finding difficult to control. As the West has no “boots on the ground” it has to rely on its allies in the NTC to secure its victory. This is proving a harder task than dropping bombs. The NTC’s Western backers do not share the popular expectations that emerged out of the uprising. It is difficult to gauge what reaction there will be to a programme of neoliberal reforms proposed by the NTC government, or that of the campaign to disarm the militias who played a central role in the civil war. But that these will be unpopular is in no doubt. The revolution in Libya is far from over, the second uprising in Tripoli brought the masses back on the streets, and following the fall of the regime, Libyan oil workers went on strike to demand the removal of regime-era management — much like the strikes that have engulfed Egypt following the fall of Mubarak. The revolutions in the Arab world are still in the first tentative stages, but they have unleashed forces of change that will be difficult to control. The path taken by the Libyan Revolution is different from those taken in Tunisia and Egypt, but there are some notable similarities. In all the revolutions the results have fallen far short of expectations. Egyptians have found that the new military rulers are determined to keep in place the structures of the old regime, and are keen to keep in place many of the policies — including the hated emergency laws and neoliberalism. Although in Egypt there is a tangible deepening of the revolution, there are signs of similar sentiments in Libya (the oil workers’ strike is one example of this). It is Egypt, and the development of this revolution, that provides the key to the future of that in Libya. The tensions between the NTC and the armed civilians inside Libya form part of this dilemma, the broader aims of imperialism another. As the reality of post-Gaddafi Libya emerges, the question will re-emerge of who this revolution was for.

Blindfolded
Written by Dennis Serdel: Military Resistance 2010; Vietnam 1967-68 (one tour) Light Infantry, Americal Div. 11th Brigade; United Auto Workers GM Retiree **************************************************************** Blindfolded I was born in March of 1947 when my Father came home from WWII and married my Mother who worked as a Secretary in Kalamazoo. Yes, I am a true “Baby Boomer” or in other words a “War Baby” born from the “Greatest Generation.” I now know how they are going to handle the influx of all the “Baby Boomers” who are beginning to retire. The Companies are going bankrupt, They Say, and will Not pay me any Retirement pay or Health Care. But in the 1960’s, it was my turn to serve in the Army in Vietnam because I was fighting Against the Idea that a Country’s wealth should be evenly spread to All the Citizens as fair as possible. Instead, I was fighting for the Idea that a Few people should own the Wealth of a Country and the rest of the Citizens should be poor. But when I came home from the War I joined a Union and I was Not poor but “Middle Class.” However, it looks like I shall return to my proper place again that being poor as the Unions are being stabbed in the back by Obama who represents the Few. Did I mention that my Son is a “War Baby” from America’s “Worst Generation ? “ So let him be especially laid off fired let go and poor. The Iraq and Afghanistan Soldiers and Veterans are another “Greatest Generation” who do

what they are told to do by the Few but it looks like they will be poor anyway because that is the way America wants them to be. A Few people have all the money and the rest of the Citizens are poor. So I have taken on the job of convincing our new “Greatest Generation” that when the Wars are over, they will be tossed aside like used toilet paper and their reward will be to work hard at slave Worker wages to raise their “War Babies.” The government blindfolds them now with yellow ribbons, parades with all the trimmings all the welcome backs and elaborate funerals to assure them that their Country really appreciates them for fighting and dying for the Idea of America. The greatest fear that the Few have who own all the wealth have is giving guns and ammo to the poor people like our Iraq and Afghanistan Soldiers. I mean, gee whizz Uncle Sam Few, you really do fear that after you keep stepping on their poor Mothers and Fathers, Aunts and Uncles, Brothers and Sisters Cousins and Neighbors and Friends that the Soldiers just might get together and march on Washington DC and NY City to eliminate the Few.

DO YOU HAVE A FRIEND OR RELATIVE IN MILITARY SERVICE?
Forward Military Resistance along, or send us the address if you wish and we’ll send it regularly. Whether in Afghanistan or at a base in the USA, this is extra important for your service friend, too often cut off from access to encouraging news of growing resistance to the wars and economic injustice, inside the armed services and at home. Send email requests to address up top or write to: The Military Resistance, Box 126, 2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10025-5657. Phone: 888.711.2550

ANNIVERSARIES

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
April 19, 1943: In Memory Of Those Who Died Courageously Resisting An Imperial Army Of Occupation, Arms In Hand

A resistance fighter with a homemade flame thrower during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. [citizenship.typepad] Carl Bunin Peace History April 13-19 On the eve of Passover, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising began when Nazi forces attempted to clear out the Jewish ghetto in Warsaw, Poland, to send them to concentration camps. The destruction of the ghetto had been ordered in February by SS Chief Heinrich Himmler: “An overall plan for the razing of the ghetto is to be submitted to me. In any case we must achieve the disappearance from sight of the living-space for 500,000 sub-humans (Untermenschen) that has existed up to now, but could never be suitable for Germans, and reduce the size of this city of millions — Warsaw — which has always been a center of corruption and revolt.” From: Ushmm.org [Excerpt]: In the summer of 1942, about 300,000 Jews were deported from Warsaw to Treblinka.

When reports of mass murder in the killing center leaked back to the Warsaw ghetto, a surviving group of mostly young people formed an organization called the Z.O.B. (for the Polish name, Zydowska Organizacja Bojowa, which means Jewish Fighting Organization). The Z.O.B., led by 23-year-old Mordecai Anielewicz, issued a proclamation calling for the Jewish people to resist going to the railroad cars. In January 1943, Warsaw ghetto fighters fired upon German troops as they tried to round up another group of ghetto inhabitants for deportation. Fighters used a small supply of weapons that had been smuggled into the ghetto. After a few days, the troops retreated. This small victory inspired the ghetto fighters to prepare for future resistance. The Nazis began the final liquidation of the ghetto the eve of Passover, April 19, 1943. The Warsaw ghetto uprising began after German troops and police entered the ghetto to deport its surviving inhabitants. Seven hundred and fifty fighters fought the heavily armed and well-trained Germans. The ghetto fighters were able to hold out for nearly a month, but on May 16, 1943, the revolt ended. The Germans had slowly crushed the resistance. Of the more than 56,000 Jews captured, about 7,000 were shot, and the remainder were deported to killing centers or concentration camps. Resisters held off the Nazis for three weeks, using precious few and largely ineffectual weapons, but they were determined to go out fighting, decrease the number of Nazis, and hopefully serve to let the whole world know of the plight of the Jews.

The Ludlow Massacre April 20, 1914: Infamous Anniversary:
Soldiers Dishonor Their Uniforms Slaughtering Women And Children To Serve The Rich:

Some Honorable Soldiers Resist, But The Colorado National Guard Becomes Notorious All Over The World As Foul, Cowardly StrikeBreaking Scum

Eighty-two soldiers in a company on a troop train headed for Trinidad refused to go. The men declared they would not engage in the shooting of women and children. Carl Bunin Peace History April 16-22 & PBS.org A lot more than 2,000 miles separated the Rockefeller estate from Southern Colorado when on Monday April 20, 1914, the first shot was fired at Ludlow. One of history’s most dramatic confrontations between capital and labor — the Ludlow massacre — took place at the mines of the Rockefeller-owned Colorado Fuel and Iron Company (CF&I). Troops from the Colorado state militia attacked strikers, killing 25 (half women and children), in Ludlow. Two women and eleven children who suffocated in a pit they had dug under their tent. Having struck the Rockefeller-owned Colorado Fuel and Iron Company the previous September for improved conditions, better wages, and union recognition, the workers established a tent camp which was fired upon and ultimately torched during the 14-hour siege.

The Ludlow Massacre

[The following was excerpted from Howard Zinn’s A PEOPLE’S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES (pgs 346-349).]

“... shortly after Woodrow Wilson took office there began in Colorado one of the most bitter and violent struggles between workers and corporate capital in the history of the country. This was the Colorado coal strike that began in September 1913 and culminated in the ‘Ludlow Massacre’ of April 1914. Eleven thousand miners in southern Colorado ... worked for the Colorado Fuel & Iron Corporation, which was owned by the Rockefeller family. Aroused by the murder of one of their organizers, they went on strike against low pay, dangerous conditions, and feudal domination of their lives in towns completely controlled by the mining companies.” “When the strike began, the miners were immediately evicted from their shacks in the mining towns. Aided by the United Mine Workers Union, they set up tents in the nearby hills and carried on the strike, the picketing, from these tent colonies. The gunmen hired by the Rockefeller interests -- the Baldwin- Felts Detective Agency -- using Gatling guns and rifles, raided the tent colonies. The death list of miners grew, but they hung on, drove back an armored train in a gun battle, fought to keep out strikebreakers. With the miners resisting, refusing to give in, the mines not able to operate, the Colorado governor (referred to by a Rockefeller mine manager as ‘our little cowboy governor’) called out the National Guard, with the Rockefellers supplying the Guard’s wages. “The miners at first thought the Guard was sent to protect them, and greeted its arrival with flags and cheers. They soon found out the Guard was there to destroy the strike. The Guard brought strikebreakers in under cover of night, not telling them there was a strike. Guardsmen beat miners, arrested them by the hundreds, rode down with their horses parades of women in the streets of Trinidad, the central town in the area. And still the miners refused to give in. When they lasted through the cold winter of 1913-1914, it became clear that extraordinary measures would be needed to break the strike.

“In April 1914, two National Guard companies were stationed in the hills overlooking the largest tent colony of strikers, the one at Ludlow, housing a thousand men, women, children. On the morning of April 20, a machine gun attack began on the tents. The miners fired back. Their leader was lured up into the hills to discuss a truce, then shot to death by a company of National Guardsmen. The women and children dug pits beneath the tents to escape the gunfire. At dusk, the Guard moved down from the hills with torches, set fire to the tents, and the families fled into the hills; thirteen people were killed by gunfire. “The following day, a telephone linesman going through the ruins of the Ludlow tent colony lifted an iron cot covering a pit in one of the tents and found the charred, twisted bodies of eleven children and two women. This became known as the Ludlow Massacre. “The news spread quickly over the country. In Denver, the United Mine Workers issued a ‘Call to Arms’ -- ‘Gather together for defensive purposes all arms and ammunition legally available.’ Three hundred armed strikers marched from other tent colonies into the Ludlow area, cut telephone and telegraph wires, and prepared for battle. Railroad workers refused to take soldiers from Trinidad to Ludlow. At Colorado Springs, three hundred union miners walked off their jobs and headed for the Trinidad district, carrying revolvers, rifles, shotguns. “In Trinidad itself, miners attended a funeral service for the twenty-six dead at Ludlow, then walked from the funeral to a nearby building, where arms were stacked for them. They picked up rifles and moved into the hills, destroying mines, killing mine guards, exploding mine shafts. The press reported that ‘the hills in every direction seem suddenly to be alive with men.’ “In Denver, eighty-two soldiers in a company on a troop train headed for Trinidad refused to go. The press reported: ‘The men declared they would not engage in the shooting of women and children. They hissed the 350 men who did start and shouted imprecations at them.

“Five thousand people demonstrated in the rain on the lawn in front of the state capital at Denver asking that the National Guard officers at Ludlow be tried for murder, denouncing the governor as an accessory. The Denver Cigar Makers Union voted to send five hundred armed men to Ludlow and Trinidad. Women in the United Garment Workers Union in Denver announced four hundred of their members had volunteered as nurses to help the strikers. “All over the country there were meetings, demonstrations. Pickets marched in front of the Rockefeller office at 26 Broadway, New York City. A minister protested in front of the church where Rockefeller sometimes gave sermons, and was clubbed by the police. “The New York Times carried an editorial on the events in Colorado, which were not attracting international attention. The Times emphasis was not on the atrocity that had occurred, but on the mistake in tactics that had been made. Its editorial on the Ludlow Massacre began: ‘Somebody blundered ... ‘ Two days later, with the miners armed and in the hills of the mine district, the Times wrote: ‘With the deadliest weapons of civilization in the hands of savage-mined men, there can be no telling to what lengths the war in Colorado will go unless it is quelled by force ... The President should turn his attention from Mexico long enough to take stern measures in Colorado.’ “The governor of Colorado asked for federal troops to restore order, and Woodrow Wilson complied. This accomplished, the strike petered out. Congressional committees came in and took thousands of pages of testimony. The union had not won recognition. Sixty-six men, women, and children had been killed. Not one militiaman or mine guard had been indicted for crime. “The Times had referred to Mexico. On the morning that the bodies were discovered in the tent pit at Ludlow, American warships were attacking Vera Cruz, a city on the coast of Mexico-bombarding it, occupying it, leaving a hundred Mexicans dead--because Mexico had arrested American sailors and refused to apologize to the United States with a twenty-one gun salute.

Could patriotic fervor and the military spirit cover up class struggle? Unemployment, hard times, were growing in 1914. Could guns divert attention and create some national consensus against an external enemy? It surely was a coincidence--the bombardment of Vera Cruz, the attack on the Ludlow colony. Or perhaps it was, as someone once described human history, ‘the natural selection of accidents.’ Perhaps the affair in Mexico was an instinctual response of the system for its own survival, to create a unity of fighting purpose among a people torn by internal conflict. “The bombardment of Vera Cruz was a small incident. But in four months the First World War would begin in Europe.

The aftermath of the Ludlow Massacre, 1914.

DO YOU HAVE A FRIEND OR RELATIVE IN MILITARY SERVICE?
Forward Military Resistance along, or send us the address if you wish and we’ll send it regularly. Whether in Afghanistan or at a base in the USA, this is extra important for your service friend, too often cut off from access to encouraging news of growing resistance to the wars and economic injustice, inside the armed services and at home. Send email requests to address up top or write to: The Military Resistance, Box 126, 2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10025-5657. Phone: 888.711.2550

Tiananmen Square:
April 21, 1989: Honorable Anniversary Pissed Off People Rise Up Against A Corrupt Government Of Tyrants, Exploiters And Oppressors

Carl Bunin Peace History April 16-22 Six days after the death of Hu Yaobang, the deposed reform-minded leader of the Chinese Communist Party, some 100,000 students from more than 40 universities gathered at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square to commemorate Hu, voice their discontent with China’s authoritative communist government, and call for greater democracy. Ignoring government warnings of violent suppression of any mass demonstration, the students were joined by workers, intellectuals, and civil servants.

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April 22, 1992: Honorable Anniversary Serbs Stand Up Against A Politician’s Plan For War: “When The New Conscript Reached Barracks His Unit Had Already Split In Two – Between Those Who Agreed To Go To The Front And Those Who Were Refusing”
Carl Bunin Peace History April 16-22 June 1994 By Ivan Vejvoda, New Internationalist [Excerpt] It may come as a surprise to many Westerners that there was a large, spontaneous opposition within Serbia and Montenegro to the war waged by the Milosevic regime. Mostly it took the form of resisting conscription into the armed forces. In Belgrade only 10 per cent responded to the call-up to what was then, in 1991, still the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA). Thousands of young conscripts went into ‘internal exile’ hiding with friends and relatives. The latter would ignore knocks at the door so as to avoid receiving the call-up orders. Thousands of potential conscripts left the country and headed for Britain, France, Germany, Holland and Greece. Visas were not needed then – as they are today. Even among those who did obey the draft, there was resistance. The story of young Miroslav Milenkovic from a small town in Serbia is a poignant example of the dilemma faced by many. When the new conscript reached barracks his unit had already split in two – between those who agreed to go to the front and those who were refusing. Milenkovic went from one group to another, not knowing which group of friends and relatives to side with. At one point he stopped and, standing between the two groups, took his rifle and shot himself.

April 23, 1971: Above And Beyond

Carl Bunin Peace History April 20-26 In the final event of Operation Dewey Canyon III, nearly 1,000 Vietnam War veterans threw their combat ribbons, helmets, and uniforms on the Capitol steps along with toy weapons.

DANGER: POLITICIANS AT WORK

Troops Invited: Comments, arguments, articles, and letters from service men and women, and veterans, are especially welcome. Write to Box 126, 2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10025-5657 or email [email protected]: Name, I.D., withheld unless you request publication. Same address to unsubscribe.

“The single largest failure of the anti-war movement at this point is the lack of outreach to the troops.” Tim Goodrich, Iraq Veterans Against The War

CLASS WAR REPORTS

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